Issue 3 of IDW Sonic: Bad Guys continues where we left off in the half-point of the miniseries. Zavok leads the Deadly Five and Starline has his own plans he wants to execute.
Your reviewer
Story & Characters
Issue 3 of Bad Guys starts off with Dr. Starline logging into his computer and opening up his latest video diary. In this video, Starline reveals his new creation: the Tricore. He also reveals his true plans to gain control over Dr. Eggman’s base and to eliminate the other Deadly Five. Zavok enters the rooms, startling Starline. Zavok calls Starline out, calling him Mimic.
Zavok was right, but it was indeed Mimic, as the real Starline was actually sleeping. Zavok and Mimic began to discuss Starline’s true intentions. Mimic goes in for the kill on Starline, but Zavok holds him back until the next day so Starline can access the Eggnet at the Eggman base. What’s interesting about this is that Zavok tells Mimic that his data on the Eggnet will be erased, which is what Mimic wanted since he joined the group.
Something I want to add here is that Zavok is a lot more likable in this miniseries. In the last issues, there was a moment between Starline and Zavok. Despite being suspicious of Starline, Zavok encourages him to try to be better than Dr. Eggman. In term, Starline starts to develop second thoughts about his plans.
Hopefully, something will come out of this moment, like Starline changing over time and he actually does end up surpassing Eggman. It’s really cool that this stems from Zavok’s comments and advice towards Starline. Sadly, there is a big chance by the end of this miniseries, the Deadly Five will end up splitting and on bad terms with each other.
The Deadly Five soon arrive at the Eggnet Hub and they start a raid using their new power cores that Starline developed for everyone. Starline gets into the central computer with the help of his teammates and starts getting to work.
Eggman is suspecting that Sonic and Tails are the ones messing with his bases and goes after them where Starline is located. Though, something I’m wondering is why Eggman didn’t suspect it was Starline. I presume Eggman probably forgot about Starline or thought he wouldn’t be capable of all the work he’s been doing. If Eggman did suspect it was Starline, I feel like it would be way more interesting it it was mentioned and there would be more tension.
Starline notices that Eggman logged into his flight plan and was able to get the base’s security in his control. Mimic gets impatient for his reward and Starline puts the idea back again, leading to probably one of the best moments in the IDW Sonic comics.
Starline is in deep trouble and has his life on the line. It’s so good and makes you wonder what he’s going to do to get out of there. Not even Zavok is willing to help Starline in this situation; in fact, he even makes it a bit worse by telling the Skunk brothers that Starline was planning to betray them.
Zavok has been shown to be a great leader in this mini-series so far. I love that he helped freeing Mimic from Eggman’s watch. It’s amazing that he was the one to inform the Skunk brothers of them being betrayed.
Zavok also made sure Starline assigned all the Eggman security to Zavok’s commands. I’m really excited about what’s going to happen in the last issue. I want to know how Starline will make it out of there without being taken down by everyone and if he’ll end up encountering Eggman on the way as well.
The story in this issue is really good. It’s probably my favorite issue in the IDW Sonic series. The characterization is great and I like Zavok even more now. The interactions are great as well. I really hope Mimic, Zavok, and the Skunk brothers will work together again in the future. Their dynamic is really fun. I’m really excited to see how the 4th issue will play out. I don’t have any gripes about this issue, but I might have a few changes here and there like Eggman’s assumption about Sonic and Tails. But it’s still good.
Visuals
As usual, the art in this issue is very good. This issue is a bit different than the others in regards to art. Portions of the issue was done by Jack Lawrence and others by Aaron Hammerstrom. The expressions he gives the characters are really nice. You can tell how they are feeling.
I don’t see Zavok drawn with an regular mouth in the comics a lot, so seeing him with one was kind of weird, but I don’t hate it. I like it a little bit but I feel like it contradicts how his mouth usually works. Many fans, including me, think of Zavok having a huge underbite. That’s how it looks like a lot of the time.
Though one problem I do have with Hammerstrom’s art is that it looks like it’s missing detail. The backgrounds look really simplistic in some panels and it looks like they could have used more lines to add some shadow or to imply texture. This could go for the coloring as well, which was done by Leonardo Ito. Personally, a lot of panels look way too flat without any shadows. Despite that, I still really enjoy the art in this issue. I would love to see Aaron Hammerstrom do more interior art for Sonic the Hedgehog issues.
Conclusion
Ending off this review, I think Bad Guys Issue 3 is a very good issue. It’s probably my favorite in this miniseries, but we’ll have to wait for Issue 4 to see about that. I’m usually a hero lover but Sonic: Bad Guys has made me love bad guys even more. The art is great as always and the story is something I can go back to once again for enjoyment. This issue is worth a read and so is the rest of the Bad Guys miniseries.
